Birth and Childhood Robert Mendler was born on July 6, 1925 in Nowy-Targ, Poland. His mother owned a soda water plant and his father owned a candy factory. When World War II began, he was fourteen years old. He, his brother, and his sister were prohibited from school and forced to work as unpaid slaves. He was taken to work for Col. Roman, the cheif of the Gestapo. While working for him, Robert had his nose broken by Col. Roman and the scar was visible because he, as a Jew, was unable to see a doctor. Into The Camps
After his service to Col. Roman, Mendler was sent to a camp to work in a stone quarry. He crushed stones with a hammer that was used to build a highway in Germany. Here, Mendler was only allowed to see his family once a month. Then, Mendler went to his next job:a lumberyard. He constructed prefabricated houses for Germans to replace the ones that had been destroyed by the Allies. On September 30, 1942, Hitler announced his "Final Solution". All Jews in the ghettos and surrounding countryside were ordered to go to the sports stadium in Nowy-Targ at eight in the morning on October 1, 1942. The Jews were not permitted to take anything along with them except food for one day. Robert's father went to the stadium at 5:00 a.m. that day; Robert remembered telling his father goodbye. His brother had been working in a different town, so Mendler, his mother, and his sister later went to the stadium as ordered. At the stadium, people were divided into three groups: women, children, and elderly, Mendler saw his father in the line with community leaders and the sick and infirm. This group was taken to a Jewish cemetery. Mendler never saw his father again. Afterwards, witnesses told Mendler that his father and the others had been stripped, chased, and beaten. They were shot in front of a grave that had been dug ahead of time. Approximately five-hundred Jews were murdered on that day. While most of the people were dead when they were buried, some were buried alive. The Jews were not permitted to take anything along with them except food that would last them for one day. That same day, Mendler’s mother and sister were taken to a concentration camp and gassed. He later learned that his older brother had also been gassed.
Now fifteen, Mendler went back to the lumberyard and then was sent to the Krakow-Plaszow concentration camp. There, he worked under Commander Goetz. The camp was built on the site of a Jewish cemetery. Mendler had to remove tombstones and build barracks. While there, he was also on burial detail. One day, he had to bury his aunt and two cousins.
In the year 1943, Mendler was sent to Birkenau, one of the three concentration camps located near Auschwitz. The two other camps were labor camps, but Birkenau was a death camp. Mendler remembered the day he entered the death camp. There were horrible smells coming out from the chimneys, but Mendler did not know that he was smelling human flesh burning. It was here in this camp that Robert came face-to-face with Dr. Mengele, the Angel of Death.
When he arrived at the camp, Mendler tried to look as healthy as possible so that he would be chosen to live. Mendler was then sent to one of the two delousing chambers. He recalled people only coming out of one. Mendler was given a striped uniform and wooden shoes. These wooden shoes were distributed to each person so it would be uncomfortable and nearly impossible to run if an imprisoned person attempted to run away.
On Mendler’s first day at Birkenau, he was ordered to lie down. He was whipped twenty-five times on his back when a guard accused him of stepping on his toe.
Mendler spent nine months in Birkenau. While there, breakfast of cold coffee and bread was served at 5 a.m. The bread was made out of sawdust rather than flour. Mendler then would go to work at I.G. Farber Co. For lunch, Robert ate thin, watery soup made at the camp. Dinner was coffee, the sawdust bread, and the watery soup. Soon, Mendler did not even know what day, month, or even year it was. He was sick often, but he would never admit to it. “If you were sick and couldn’t work,” Mendler stated, “the only way out was up the chimney”.
On January 18, 1945, Mendler left Birkenau. He and other Jewish prisoners marched a total of sixty-five miles to Krakow in temperatures thirty degrees below zero. If anyone fell, they would be shot. When leaving Krakow, Mendler was forced into a box car containing 150 people for ten days. They were without food or water. When the prisoners arrived in Sacsenhausen, fewer than fifty remained alive. These people remained alive only by eating off the other dead bodies. Liberation One day, Mendler and three others managed to escape, fleeing to a nearby farm, hiding in the hay. The farmer found them; but instead of turning them in, he fed them milk and bread and kept them hidden in the barn. They stayed there until May 2, 1945, while Mendler was sick with typhoid.. The farmer, that day, came into the barn with four American soldiers. Mendler had never seen an American; but when he did, he cried like a baby. Bernie Schulman, a Jewish American, gave Mendler his shirt and carried him to freedom. At the time Mendler weighed only seventy-five pounds.
For the next three months, Mendler was hospitalized. After his release, he spent a year in a camp for displaced people. It was there that he was visited General George Patton.
After his time in a home for displaced people, Mendler and his five friends moved into a German apartment that had once been occupied by a Nazi. Mendler and his friends got the names of the Nazis in the area. They captured these Nazis and made them dig up their 312 friends from a mass grave in Pocking. They were then given proper burial.
Afterwards, Mendler considered moving back to Poland once again, but he decided to stay in Germany. He lived in Germany for four years. During that time, he looked for any surviving family members. However, all seventy-two members of his family member were dead. The only family member he had left was his uncle, who had come to the United States in 1900.
LIfe in America Mendler left Germany on April 25, 1949 for his uncle’s home in the United States. Three thousand people, along with Mendler, were on a ship heading towards America. While on the boat, Mendler saw the S.S. officer who had beaten him when he was a house boy. This man was identified by many people; he was returned to Poland and hung.
When Mendler came to the United States, he lived with his uncle in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Together, they operated Mendler’s Shoe Store for forty-six years. In 1954, Mendler married a woman named Joan. They had two sons. His wife died in the spring of 2009.
Of the three thousand Jews in Nowy-Targ in 1939, thirty-nine survived, thirty-five went to Israel, and four came to the United States. Mr. Robert Mendler was one of the four who came to the United States. Although he was retired, he still remained active in Jewish affairs and spoke to children and adults about the Shoah of World War II.
Death Mr. Robert Mendler died December 10, 2009. His visitation and funeral were both at Beth Israel Synagogue, located on Weldon Street in downtown Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on December 15 2009.
Mr. Mendler was a wonderful man.
He called us his children.
He called us his friend.
Now, may God call him so he may rest in peace and be in the hands of God forever.
Bob Mendler teaching at a local shool.
Pictures of a project completed by our seventh and eigth grade class resembling Mr. Mendler's life, before, during, and after Holocaust can be found on our home page. Click here to view.
A group of students from Saint Vincent College, of Latrobe, Pennsylvaina, had a chance to listen to his stories of the Holocaust on April 10, 2007. Click here to watch the video.
Some information above was retrieved by: Wolff, Jeannette. "Mendler - I Can Never Forget." Latrobe Bulletin. 12 Apr, 1995. 1-2 Print.
Bob Mendler (middle) volunteering with members of Latrobe Area Hospital over the Christmas holiday.
"Never Forget"
Birth and Childhood
Robert Mendler was born on July 6, 1925 in Nowy-Targ, Poland. His mother owned a soda water plant and his father owned a candy factory. When World War II began, he was fourteen years old. He, his brother, and his sister were prohibited from school and forced to work as unpaid slaves. He was taken to work for Col. Roman, the cheif of the Gestapo. While working for him, Robert had his nose broken by Col. Roman and the scar was visible because he, as a Jew, was unable to see a doctor.
Into The Camps
After his service to Col. Roman, Mendler was sent to a camp to work in a stone quarry. He crushed stones with a hammer that was used to build a highway in Germany. Here, Mendler was only allowed to see his family once a month. Then, Mendler went to his next job:a lumberyard. He constructed prefabricated houses for Germans to replace the ones that had been destroyed by the Allies. On September 30, 1942, Hitler announced his "Final Solution". All Jews in the ghettos and surrounding countryside were ordered to go to the sports stadium in Nowy-Targ at eight in the morning on October 1, 1942. The Jews were not permitted to take anything along with them except food for one day. Robert's father went to the stadium at 5:00 a.m. that day; Robert remembered telling his father goodbye. His brother had been working in a different town, so Mendler, his mother, and his sister later went to the stadium as ordered. At the stadium, people were divided into three groups: women, children, and elderly,
Mendler saw his father in the line with community leaders and the sick and infirm. This group was taken to a Jewish cemetery. Mendler never saw his father again. Afterwards, witnesses told Mendler that his father and the others had been stripped, chased, and beaten. They were shot in front of a grave that had been dug ahead of time. Approximately five-hundred Jews were murdered on that day. While most of the people were dead when they were buried, some were buried alive. The Jews were not permitted to take anything along with them except food that would last them for one day.
That same day, Mendler’s mother and sister were taken to a concentration camp and gassed. He later learned that his older brother had also been gassed.
Now fifteen, Mendler went back to the lumberyard and then was sent to the Krakow-Plaszow concentration camp. There, he worked under Commander Goetz. The camp was built on the site of a Jewish cemetery. Mendler had to remove tombstones and build barracks. While there, he was also on burial detail. One day, he had to bury his aunt and two cousins.
In the year 1943, Mendler was sent to Birkenau, one of the three concentration camps located near Auschwitz. The two other camps were labor camps, but Birkenau was a death camp. Mendler remembered the day he entered the death camp. There were horrible smells coming out from the chimneys, but Mendler did not know that he was smelling human flesh burning. It was here in this camp that Robert came face-to-face with Dr. Mengele, the Angel of Death.
When he arrived at the camp, Mendler tried to look as healthy as possible so that he would be chosen to live. Mendler was then sent to one of the two delousing chambers. He recalled people only coming out of one. Mendler was given a striped uniform and wooden shoes. These wooden shoes were distributed to each person so it would be uncomfortable and nearly impossible to run if an imprisoned person attempted to run away.
On Mendler’s first day at Birkenau, he was ordered to lie down. He was whipped twenty-five times on his back when a guard accused him of stepping on his toe.
Mendler spent nine months in Birkenau. While there, breakfast of cold coffee and bread was served at 5 a.m. The bread was made out of sawdust rather than flour. Mendler then would go to work at I.G. Farber Co. For lunch, Robert ate thin, watery soup made at the camp. Dinner was coffee, the sawdust bread, and the watery soup. Soon, Mendler did not even know what day, month, or even year it was. He was sick often, but he would never admit to it. “If you were sick and couldn’t work,” Mendler stated, “the only way out was up the chimney”.
On January 18, 1945, Mendler left Birkenau. He and other Jewish prisoners marched a total of sixty-five miles to Krakow in temperatures thirty degrees below zero. If anyone fell, they would be shot. When leaving Krakow, Mendler was forced into a box car containing 150 people for ten days. They were without food or water. When the prisoners arrived in Sacsenhausen, fewer than fifty remained alive. These people remained alive only by eating off the other dead bodies.
Liberation
One day, Mendler and three others managed to escape, fleeing to a nearby farm, hiding in the hay. The farmer found them; but instead of turning them in, he fed them milk and bread and kept them hidden in the barn. They stayed there until May 2, 1945, while Mendler was sick with typhoid.. The farmer, that day, came into the barn with four American soldiers. Mendler had never seen an American; but when he did, he cried like a baby. Bernie Schulman, a Jewish American, gave Mendler his shirt and carried him to freedom. At the time Mendler weighed only seventy-five pounds.
For the next three months, Mendler was hospitalized. After his release, he spent a year in a camp for displaced people. It was there that he was visited General George Patton.
After his time in a home for displaced people, Mendler and his five friends moved into a German apartment that had once been occupied by a Nazi. Mendler and his friends got the names of the Nazis in the area. They captured these Nazis and made them dig up their 312 friends from a mass grave in Pocking. They were then given proper burial.
Afterwards, Mendler considered moving back to Poland once again, but he decided to stay in Germany. He lived in Germany for four years. During that time, he looked for any surviving family members. However, all seventy-two members of his family member were dead. The only family member he had left was his uncle, who had come to the United States in 1900.
LIfe in America
Mendler left Germany on April 25, 1949 for his uncle’s home in the United States. Three thousand people, along with Mendler, were on a ship heading towards America. While on the boat, Mendler saw the S.S. officer who had beaten him when he was a house boy. This man was identified by many people; he was returned to Poland and hung.
When Mendler came to the United States, he lived with his uncle in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Together, they operated Mendler’s Shoe Store for forty-six years. In 1954, Mendler married a woman named Joan. They had two sons. His wife died in the spring of 2009.
Of the three thousand Jews in Nowy-Targ in 1939, thirty-nine survived, thirty-five went to Israel, and four came to the United States. Mr. Robert Mendler was one of the four who came to the United States. Although he was retired, he still remained active in Jewish affairs and spoke to children and adults about the Shoah of World War II.
Death
Mr. Robert Mendler died December 10, 2009. His visitation and funeral were both at Beth Israel Synagogue, located on Weldon Street in downtown Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on December 15 2009.
Mr. Mendler was a wonderful man.
He called us his children.
He called us his friend.
Now, may God call him so he may rest in peace and be in the hands of God forever.
Pictures of a project completed by our seventh and eigth grade class resembling Mr. Mendler's life, before, during, and after Holocaust can be found on our home page. Click here to view.
A group of students from Saint Vincent College, of Latrobe, Pennsylvaina, had a chance to listen to his stories of the Holocaust on April 10, 2007.
Click here to watch the video.
Some information above was retrieved by:
Wolff, Jeannette. "Mendler - I Can Never Forget." Latrobe Bulletin. 12 Apr, 1995. 1-2 Print.